Eldritch
by mythica magic
Summary: Orihime has an imaginary friend, who happens to be a terrifying creature living in the woods behind her summer home. Ulquihime, eventual romance and smut. Made for UH Week 2019.
1. Chapter 1

_For Ulquihime Week 2019 Day 4: Haunting/Touch Starved. _

* * *

**Eldritch**

**Chapter One**

At six years old little girls still believe in many things: Magic, ghosts, monsters, Santa, unicorns, the tooth fairy. Yet their beliefs are usually rooted in what they've already been told is possible. Santa lives at the North Pole and visits on Christmas. Unicorns can be found in forests. Tooth fairies only visit if you lose a tooth. The evil spirits in bathrooms usually resided in the last cubical.

Orihime Inoue had the profound ability to believe in almost anything. To give imperfect things palpable form inside her mind as something new. If Sora held up a sock puppet because her parents couldn't afford to buy a doll, she'd willingly suspend her disbelief and see it as a fierce cupcake dragon. If she ate red-bean paste on bread because they were low on groceries, she'd taste honey on pancakes or strawberries and cream. Dust came from magic spiders who liked to throw salt shakers of grey specs everywhere. The gloomy, faded lights of their dingy neighbourhood weren't half dead lightbulbs, but winking fairies or playful spirits. Graffiti was a technicolour, ancient language she didn't understand. The rivers and skies was a playground for the Gods. Sora could be her Mama and Papa in place of their actual parents.

So it surprised absolutely no one when Orihime claimed one day that Batman was her best friend.

* * *

He had been born from nothingness.

The only indicators that he was even alive were from the sharp, broken twigs on the forest floor tickling his hard, pale skin, and the solid earth supporting his back. That and consciousness.

He had no visible features, lacking a mouth with which to eat, or eyes with which to see. No hearing with which to listen, fingernails to claw and pry, fur or hair with which to shelter, and no heart.

Essentially, he had been born to experience nothing. A worthless, meaningless birth. He felt the absences of what he lacked with a keen, visceral emptiness.

The creature lay in a pale heap, content to die.

But something disturbed the clear nothingness surrounding him. Raising a hand, long fingers flexed wide, searching for the thin sensation in the breeze. The slightest, barely-there touch had him snatching something out of the air. Pressing it instinctively to his face, his form shuddered and convulsed.

Twin slits cracked on the creature's face. Muscle started to move and fix itself together. Skin crumpled as paper-mache lids pried themselves open. Long black lashes grew forth and the creature blinked the dust from his newly formed grey eyes. Muddy colours and blurry forms assaulted him, until he looked directly into an orb of something harsh and bright. Shielding his eyes, he looked down. Focusing on the dirt felt safer as he took a moment to practice blinking, seeing an afterimage of that burning light.

His sight cleared, shapes coming into focus.

Lifting his head and glancing around at the forest, slit pupils shifted. Sunlight filtered through the leaves. Blue skies could be glimpsed further still above. Hundreds of countless trees surrounded him.

Green. So much green.

His grey eyes let the colour leak into the canvas of his irises, making them give way to lush emerald. Touching his black lashes gingerly, the creature instinctively pried out one that didn't fit quite right with the rest. A small, single sun-kissed orange eyelash lay in his palm.

He found the colour acceptable.

Muffled, quiet vibrations thudded on the ground not too far away then, like footsteps. Somehow, he could feel it. Lifting his gaze upon seeing movement in his peripheral vision, the creature stilled.

A little girl stopped in unison with him, tilting her head. The hair spilling out from under her sunhat blazed the same bright, fiery colour.

Deaf to her words, he could only watch as her mouth moved. She then hesitantly shifted forward, silver eyes bright and filled with nebulous flecks of brown. Gesturing to the orange lash in his palm, her lips curved, and the girl beamed.

For some reason, he then heard her words clearly, blessed with sound. "Are you my new friend? You can keep that eyelash in exchange!"

He stared uncomprehendingly, seeing a reflection of his image in her eyes. Proof of his existence. Distant tweeting could be heard in the trees. The scampering of strange, tiny creatures raced up tree trunks.

Something ran down his face from his eyes. Her expression crumpled and became alarmed, taking out a tissue from her pocket. "Oh no, don't cry! I promise I'll be a good friend!"

Racing over, she knelt and pressed the soft white thing against his dry cheeks. No matter how much she fussed and rubbed, the teal lines that made him look like he was constantly in mourning remained.

* * *

The girl had spent a few hours with him every day from then on, jabbering. Now that he'd received both sight and sound, the creature drank in all the newness surrounding him. He did not understand why his form was grown, with longer limbs than the girl, or why she saw fit to blush and remove her coat, telling him to cover his lower half with it. He did not understand much about himself at all, but everything she talked about, his frayed knowledge pieced together. The more books she read to him, the more his mind caught on until he became impatient with her slowness to describe the words.

'Sora' was her older brother, she said. A brother was a sibling. Her parents were poor. Parents raised their young. Being poor meant having no money with which to buy things.

The girl was called 'Orihime Inoue.'

When he gestured to himself, she blinked at him. "Oh, you're Batman!"

'Batman' did not sound right. But he supposed she was his God, his maker, despite not having palpable proof of such a thing. It felt correct to assume she knew best.

When she returned into the woods that bordered her back garden again, this time Orihime chewed an apple. She took out another from her red frilly dress, handing it to him.

"Oh...can you eat without a mouth?" She frowned.

_Mouth?_

_Eat?_

She tilted her head, saddened. "You must be really hungry," her tiny hand patted her stomach.

_Hungry._

His stomach felt empty then, twisting into knots. Perhaps that was what she meant.

_Yes, hunger._

He supposed he was.

'Batman' did not expect much to come from it, but the next day, Orihime trotted out through the bushes, giving him a gap-toothed smile.

She presented her baby tooth to him with all the flourish of a magician. "For you! This way, you can have a mouth! I could have saved it for the tooth fairy, but I'm giving it to you instead. I wrote her a letter explaining that eating food is one of the best things in the world, and my friend needs to know what it's like more than I need yen," she nodded happily. Her exuberance faltered slightly then. "Um, I think this will work. I hope. When you got that eyelash you got eyes, right?"

The creature reached out and took it between bone-thin forefinger and thumb. Instinctively he pressed the tooth to the appropriate place on his face.

A natural slit curved open, spreading wider as he stared at her, mentally mapping the look of her mouth. Behind the lips that formed came other intricacies of the mouth, muscles and such- that allowed him to open his jaw, accepting the tooth inside. Others formed an upper and lower row of the same bone-white teeth, strengthening until they were adult molars, canines and the like.

When finished, he parted his lips, plucking out the baby tooth and handing it back to her, a new tooth instantly regenerating within his mouth.

Orihime blinked, not thrown by witnessing the somewhat gruesome creation. "Your upper lip is all dark," she patted her top lip.

He mimicked the action but obviously could not see. Without fear, she casually pried her thumb into his lips to flash his new teeth at her.

"Wow! So many!"

Batman did not like this so he shied away from her touch.

"I guess you still can't talk though," small shoulders fell. "You probably need a tongue for that."

_Tongue?_

She stuck out her own, grinning. "You can't have mine! But I will go fetch you some food. I hear that ice-cream and soup are good if you struggle to eat. Please stay here!" The little ball of sunshine turned, bounding away without another word.

Green eyes stared after her, before mismatched lips opened. Touching inside, he indeed felt an absence inside the wet, hot space. His finger traced over the bumps and edges of his new teeth with fascination.

When she eventually returned, Orihime fed him peanut butter ice-cream and soup. He couldn't taste it, so the texture was all he had to go on as he swallowed. It was fine. He opened his mouth for more, and she giggled, calling him a glutton. He frowned at her tone and took the spoon off her, feeding himself.

She told him about her abusive parents, a drunk of a father and prostitute mother whom her brother, Sora, had saved her from. Ulquiorra understood some of the intricacies of what she said without fathoming her sadness or happiness. He did want to learn specifically what the term 'glutton,' 'drunk' and 'prostitute' meant but could not ask. Gesturing to her summer holidays homework in her backpack, he was rewarded with her teaching him how to read at her level. He caught on quickly, adapting, thirsty for knowledge.

Orihime gripped his large hand in both of her small ones and curled his long, pale fingers around a pen. She then grinned and taught him how to write in large sprawling characters.

She left him with a strand of her hair, which looked as though it had been kissed by the sun. He'd dutifully touched it to his head, where long, flowing dark tresses grew and fell to his shoulders, sprawling unevenly and wild.

* * *

From one of her broken fingernails came his long sharp talons.

With them, the creature felt that he now had the right tools to hunt, which she explained was what he'd need to do in her absence.

It was just as well because a week later, Orihime had to leave. She'd made him a house of twigs and branches, a poor attempt at shelter, while explaining that she'd been staying with Sora at a cheap 'holiday home' they visited every year and rented for two weeks. They were now leaving for their city home. Batman felt no emotion at her departure but frowned slightly when water leaked from her eyes, running down chubby cheeks.

It smelled sharp and strange.

She'd scrubbed at her eyes and waved, promising to see him next year. He had nodded. With all the caprice and carelessness of a child, she'd then left her creation in the woods alone.

Orihime wanted him to have a tongue and it felt imperative to get one immediately. Legs shook as he stood, and he glanced down at the new blanket he'd tied around his waist at her behest.

He set down the advanced dictionary in his hand and tried talking a few steps, mimicking her walk, but soon panted. Sweat dotted his brow from the effort of walking the expanse of his clearing. He'd need to build strength. Eventually he'd get the hang of it.

* * *

"That's horrible."

Orihime looked up from her doodles to glance at Sora in the driver's seat, who listened to the radio.

_"This attack was random and unprecedented in this town. Kenta Yano remains in hospital and has been unable to communicate to authorities who exactly is responsible for viciously severing his tongue from his mou-"_ the dial was snapped to the side, turning it off. Sora glanced at Orihime in the rearview mirror and gave a smile.

"Who wants pancakes with broccoli when we get home?"

"Ohhh I do, I do!" Orihime raised her hand, the distraction working its magic as they left the woods and summer home behind them.

* * *

The creature found that without her, the days blurred into one. He kept himself busy by reading the books she'd left him but they were quickly committed to memory. Rain poured heavy and endless sometimes. It had forced him from the usual clearing where they talked, finding a small cave and clawing at the earth to carve a space deeper for himself. He then lay down, suspending any and all thought; sleeping.

A year later, when she came hurrying through the woods again, clad in a summer dress and skirts flitting about her knees, Orihime found him exactly where she'd left him, but he now stood upright on two legs. More books were stacked atop each other, carefully stored in the shelter of a tree. They appeared to have been stolen from the library, but since the collection wasn't out of control, it could only be assumed that he'd been putting the books back after reading them. The trunk had been carved out into shelves, keeping them safe. Orihime felt kind of proud. She'd told him not to steal.

His form had changed. Black fur now coated his arms up to his elbows, feathers sprouting from his shoulder-blades, yet more dark fur on his legs and lower-half, ending at his waist. She supposed he must have gotten cold in the woods. It only occurred to her then that she could have given him a pair of Sora's pants, and felt a degree of guilt. Maybe she'd been a bad friend.

He glanced at her, eyes wilder than she remembered, but he spoke eloquently, in steady, clipped tones.

"You are late, Orihime Inoue."

She burst into a wide smile.

* * *

"Murciélago," he said one day on her 8th birthday.

"Hm?"

"My name."

Orihime scrunched up her nose with concentration. "Mercy-"

"Murciélago."

"Merci...lego."

Flat green eyes told her he was not amused.

She huffed, looking apologetic. "Can I not call you Batman?"

"If you want to be incorrect, yes."

Seeing her state of furrowed brows and continual struggle to say it, he bit back a sigh, glancing up at the branches. "...Ulquiorra, then."

"Ulqui...orra," she murmured, before brightening. "Ulquiorra! That's a nice name."

He did not need her opinion on the matter but nonetheless felt assured and proud.

* * *

"I think it would be fun if you could fly," she mused one day, wading through a stream at the bright young age of 9. She claimed to be searching for stardust, because gold didn't satisfy ogres, apparently.

Since he was used to her random outbursts, he took it in stride, watching her from the bank. "Do you want me to fly?" He asked, gaze gliding over the bruises on her arms. He did not ask what they were from.

Orihime laughed softly, "maybe. Sure!" She then tapped her bottom lip. "But my brother says it's good to have a tail if you want to fly."

He blinked as she gasped and clapped her hands, dropping the bucket of precious stones she'd found into the water. "Ohh! Imagine if you had a lion's tail!"

* * *

She heard about the local zoo's break-in and subsequent attack on its male Barbary lion. She didn't think much of it even as she hugged Ulquiorra's newfound tail, which was thin, black and long. She had a wonderful time playing skip-rope with it.

Her laughter always resounded- not in his ears- but in the hollow of his chest which lay hidden beneath a surface of skin and muscle. The sound echoed and bounced off the walls long after she'd left him alone. In those times, he resented her presence in his life. The echos left a pulsing, aching thing. When his chest was silent, there was no sensation. An absence. A nothing. Nothingness did not hurt, so Ulquiorra came to the conclusion that nothingness was happiness.

* * *

"Your hair is shorter."

That smile he always noticed wobbled and shrank, before finally disappearing altogether. She curled her arms tighter around her knees, "some...girls cut it at the playground."

"Without permission?"

"Mhm," she scrubbed at her cheek, shoulders shaking a little. "I didn't tell Sora. I just said I felt like a change," her voice became thin and fragile. Ulquiorra watched as she struggled with something, holding back tears. She blinked rapidly and raised her head, exhaling. Not one fell.

His slit pupils dilated slightly. Even at ten years old, she was a strong girl. Different from the brats he'd glimpsed sometimes playing in the woods.

"It's just that...they made me feel like I was nothing," Orihime scuffed her shoes on the forest floor, disturbing leaves. "Just trash to be discarded. Girls always do stuff like this at school, but I didn't think it would happen while I was here. I like coming to the summer house... to be happy for a little while."

_Happy?_ He blinked. Was she not usually? She smiled so often, indicating happiness. "There isn't anything wrong with being nothing," his tail thumped and slid over the forest floor. "But you are not trash."

She turned to look at him, brows furrowing. "I'm not?"

Ulquiorra stared at her, face as expressionless as ever, but a firmness crept into his tone. "No."

* * *

The next day, Orihime wandered to the playground cautiously, only to blink at the sight of the girls there. They sat, hands curled in their short locks that ended above their shoulders.

Frowning slightly, she made to approach. They hadn't looked like that yesterday. Their hair had been long and lush. The girls immediately noticed her and squeaked, hurrying away with frightened wails. One of them, the girl who Orihime remembered holding her down as the others had snipped at her orange locks- tripped and fell.

Orihime wandered closer, "what happened to you all?"

"Stay back!" The girl cried, dragging herself backwards on the mud to try and scramble away. "Keep away from me! You're a witch! A-a witch who summons demons or something! You sliced off my hair! I know it was you!"

Flabbergasted, Orihime could only watch as she turned and clawed at the ground to pick herself up and bolt away.

Naturally she'd visited Ulquiorra soon after. "Did you cut their hair?"

Vivid green eyes slid away. A rare thing. He always stared, like he were burning the image of her into his retinas. "You'll have to be specific."

Small hands drew into fists, "those girls. Did you...hurt them?"

"They hurt you," he pointed out evenly. The creature shifted and blurred, appearing much closer than she'd anticipated and causing her to startle. Long, sharp talons slid into her hair, gliding nails through the locks briefly, before drawing away.

Orihime swallowed, experiencing a brief flash of wariness for the first time. She then shook it away, putting her small fingers over the sharp tips of his claws. "You can't do that again."

"Why not?"

She frowned, trying to explain. For once, she felt out of her depth, "because it's wrong. Sora says it's bad to get revenge...to be w-wrathful."

He considered this, having no use for her human concerns. "Are you ordering me?"

"U-um..." the girl faltered. "Will it stop you from doing it again?"

"Yes."

"Then don't hurt any humans again," Orihime nodded with satisfaction.

Ulquiorra bit back a sigh, inclining his head. The ensuing pensive, thoughtful silence was soon broken by him slowly verbalising what had bothered him all night. "They were frightened of me. Even before I did anything to them."

"I suppose that's normal," she mused. "You're not like them."

His usual melancholic expression didn't change, but a kind of weight settled into his next words. Like a soft demand to know. Ulquiorra had never demanded anything of her before. "Are you afraid of me?"

And as usual, honesty stared him right back in the face. She visibly gentled and smiled. "No, I'm not."

* * *

The next year, she did not come.

Orihime did not visit the year after that or the year following that either.

Ulquiorra eventually plucked a bat from a tree and ripped its wings clean off its squirming body. He then pressed them to his shoulder blades and forced the leathery appendages to lengthen and grow, attaching them into his body and weaving the muscles and bone together. They soon towered over him in height, enough to support his weight in the air.

Theoretically.

It took a few attempts, but soon it took jumping and freefalling from a tree to actually work the wings enough to glide. A few more days and he was leaping into the night sky, flying.

He did not find her right away. Actually it took two more years to track the girl down, as he moved only at night and kept to himself. Ulquiorra observed as he went, becoming used to crawling down alley walls to peer into windows and observe humans. He'd scared away a homeless man who'd been squatting in an attic of a warehouse, watching television. Ulquiorra had promptly seated himself before the square of moving images and bright lights, learning.

They were all so similar and yet different, humans. They all wanted things, be it money, relationships, security or fame. They spouted ridiculous things about emotions and 'the heart.' He found that his assessment of them kept changing. Their books had taught him so much- and yet not enough. Orihime had been something unnamed and yet he wanted to name it. Was she special to him only because she'd given him what every creature usually possessed? That of the five senses? That sounded logical.

And yet it felt incorrect. It was not just that.

Ulquiorra eventually tracked the girl down by closing his eyes and feeling for something invisible. That same pull in the air that had happened when they'd first met. Energy he couldn't name or find a word for it with the language she'd taught him.

He soon pushed a window to an apartment open, tail sliding into the dark room and feeling for the floor before the creature followed.

The light in the bedroom switched on, causing him to freeze, eyes widening.

"Ulquiorra?"

Bedcovers rustled and sounded like they were being pushed back. Ulquiorra shifted, turning slowly to look at the woman.

She blinked, sitting on her bed, eyes looking wet but cheeks remaining dry. "I-it's you..."

He stared, transfixed. Orihime had changed.

His mental image of her shifted; bones growing, hips curving, body filling out, hair lengthening. She was a woman now. The child that had taught him what 2+2 meant was dead and gone.

He didn't react to the change, merely updating his information on her appearance and assumed maturity.

She stood, walking toward him with vague confusion. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders, sliding down in waves to end at her mid-back. Ulquiorra blinked, his foot drawing back slightly, instinctively. Something pooled in his stomach. Similar to hunger, but illogical, since he'd already eaten.

"I thought...I don't-" her voice wobbled, uncertain. "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't return."

She bit her lip, tugging it between her teeth. The sensation in his stomach tightened into liquid heat. Ulquiorra shook it away.

Finally, her grey eyes slid away, like she were ashamed. "Sora died."

He processed this, picturing the brother he'd glimpsed beyond the treeline sometimes, waiting for her. A tall, dark-haired man. "I see. Do you expect me to comfort you?"

She flinched, holding her arms. Slowly, slim fingers glided over the tanned skin, nails biting in. "No," she murmured. "After he died, my aunt began giving me money so that I could keep myself afloat here. On my own," grey eyes slid to the window, guilty. "I wanted to see you but I didn't have enough to come-"

"You're poor. It's to be expected."

The words didn't upset her. Ulquiorra was always painfully blunt. She decided to be equally straightforward, looking at him.

"But...I'd like to give another order. If that's okay?"

Ulquiorra mulled it over, wondering if her teenage years and impending adulthood had rendered her as selfish and shallow as the other humans he'd glimpsed. Perhaps the qualities he'd admired in her had vanished.

Taking his silence as reluctance, Orihime stepped closer and lay gentle, warm hands on his arm. Ulquiorra tensed, breath hitching.

"Is there anything you'd like in exchange?" Her breath fanned over the exposed skin of his chest. The hollowness beneath the surface opened wider.

"I'm not sure as of right now," he quietly admitted. "I'll do as you ask, and then we can discuss what I want afterwards."

She nodded, firey hair bouncing with the motion. The heat from her body felt alluring, in a way no hearth had ever beckoned to him previously. "Alright, I want..." Orihime took a breath. "I wish you would bring Sora back."

Ulquiorra thought of the bat he'd killed. How its eyes had turned glassy and vacant. "I'm not certain that power is within my reach," he admitted, slit pupils dilating slightly at her tense, rigid expression. Like she straddled the line between a collected facade and despair. Strong as ever. "...But I will try," he added.

Her eyes lit up like they used to, lashes falling shut. Orihime's fingers brushed over the black fur of his arm.

"Thank you," she breathed, giggling slightly. Her arms wrapped around his middle then. The warmth and softness of her body pressed against his bare chest and torso, trapping him in a tight grip that he oddly didn't find restricting yet caused his eyes to widen anyway. The thudding coming from her chest resounded in his own. He set his hands on the curve of her hips, counting the thuds of her heartbeat. Without realising, he smelled her hair and brought her closer.

"You're the best imaginary friend I've ever had."

Tilting his head a touch caused black strands to dip and brush over her cheek. Did she mean that she'd initially assessed him as a friend but now felt that their bond had been imaginary? _Or..._

Orihime released him and turned towards the kitchen, asking whether he wanted something to eat or drink. He barely heard her.

She was incorrect. He'd left proof of his existence via that man, that bat, that lion, those girls in the park. Their tongues, wings, tails and hair had been cut by his talons. The things he'd assumed were his lungs constricted, sensations assaulting- spouting cold fire from the depths of his stomach and into his throat, burning.

His hand rose, digits pressing against the surface of his chest. The feeling of it being nothing but an empty container doubled. He was only vaguely alarmed when his fingers dipped inwards. The brittle surface of skin over his chest crumbled away where his heart should have been. A hollow hole was revealed in its place.

Ulquiorra realised then, he didn't care if he had actually interacted with the world. If he had actually scared that homeless man, harmed those creatures or cut those girls hair. What he desired, coveted, craved, _needed_ lay in Orihime's tired eyes that seemed just a touch out of reality as she glanced at him and he found no sign of his reflection staring back at him.

He wanted to exist in her eyes again.


	2. Chapter 2

_For Ulquihime Week 2019 Day 6: Possession_

_Warning: Smut_

* * *

**Eldritch**

**Chapter Two**

Living with Orihime felt extremely alien and uncomfortable at first. He wasn't used to the hardwood floors that made the long claw-like nails of his toes scratch and drag on the surface, the plush bedding he sank a good two-feet into, the stifling warmth of a heater. His wings were entirely too large and cumbersome in the small apartment no matter how neatly he folded them.

One morning Orihime gasped and caught a lamp before it hit the ground- knocked over by a long tail. Again. He glanced at her and coiled it closer to himself, awkwardly perched on a barstool at her kitchen counter.

"Look at you. I really gave you random features when I was a kid, huh?" She sighed. "I'm sorry, they must be uncomfortable."

"You asked me to get the features you desired and I obeyed," he muttered, sipping some water. His claws clicked on the glass, dragging and leaving faint scratches as he adjusted his bent knees. "Since I'd received sight and other useful things from you, I had no grievance with changing my appearance. It's inconsequential."

Orihime righted the lamp and bit her lip, wandering closer and brushing a gentle hand over the black feathers on his back. Lean muscle tensed. Every nerve ending pricked and burned, anticipating her touch on his bare skin. It never came.

"Do you dislike it?" Escaped him.

She twined some lengthy wisps of fur that mingled with the softness of the feathers around her fingers, smiling nostalgically. "No, you're still mine, silly. It's kinda like looking at a drawing I made when I was younger."

Bitterness rose in his throat, clogging like mud- even as his body flared alive with her admission of ownership. "Yes," he muttered. _I am yours._ "You seem unexpectedly fine with talking to a 'childhood drawing.' Most humans don't exhibit this kind of behaviour."

He'd tried and failed to keep the hiss out of his words, the sting of being referred to as a figment of her imagination.

Orihime pried out a few leaves that had tangled in the dark fur, brushing out some dried dirt. "It's just like I told you, I've always been bullied for being a little strange," she giggled. "Daydreaming too much, eating weird things, thinking about stuff differently from other people. They mistook me...and thought I saw myself as better than them for not fitting in. I don't know why," the gentle note to her voice became quieter. "Just shows I haven't changed after all this time if I'm still talking to and seeing you. I mean most people would probably be fine with their brother's death after so many years."

He wasn't entirely sure how grief worked but did not know enough about the subject to object. His body stiffened and sighed as she touched a leathery wing. "Anyway, not to change the subject but I think you need a shower, mister."

Ulquiorra blinked slowly.

* * *

That was how he found himself being playfully shoved into a shower cubical. Orihime turned on the water, which hit the expanse of his back at full blast. He made a noise of surprise, claws reaching out and dragging over her waist and slicing the material of her nightgown. She merely laughed and tried to bar his escape from the cramped space by blocking the exit, "just calm down~ I promise it won't hurt you!" She giggled, gasping as the water soaked her as well.

He grit his teeth. Realising he was acting childishly to the unfamiliar situation, he held himself rigidly still.

Reaching for the shampoo, Orihime lathered her hands and worked slim fingers through his hair. Ulquiorra stared, watching as the material of her blue clothing became sodden, leaving it fairly see-through. It showed the suggestion of skin laying just beneath, the shape of her full breasts as the material clung to her, rose-pink nipples hardening slightly.

"Close your eyes."

Ulquiorra flicked his curious gaze up, but she was merely smiling, having not noticed. "The shampoo will sting if it gets in them."

And then he realised; she was not looking at him as a man. It made sense, since to Orihime he was not real. If she were attracted to him she'd never be able to bathe him so thoughtlessly. Intense green eyes slid shut, tail sliding to wrap around her leg. A security measure to prevent her escape.

As soft palms slid over his fur, wings and arms, washing the splashes of dirt away, Ulquiorra sensed reluctance the second her hands met his chest. "You didn't have this before," she murmured, voice barely heard over the sound of the spray. His eyes cracked open, breath hissing out of mismatched lips. Her fingers glided around the hollow hole.

Heat hooked low in his stomach. "No, I did not," he thought for a moment. "But it's always been there, beneath the surface."

Orihime's brows drew together, "I really should have given you a heart. This is just cruel."

She continued bathing him, her body occasionally pressing and dragging lightly, torturously against his. Ulquiorra didn't know why his gut kept tightening but something was happening to him. It was like he'd flown for miles in a single few seconds, limbs burning, breath quickening.

"Maybe you could get a heart," she was musing. "Like a pig's one. They're meant to be similar to a humans. Oh! Dummy," she knocked her head with her fist. "You could get a heart from the hospital. There are organ donors, that's a thing."

"You told me never to steal," he pointed out, panting a little. Sweat on his brow mingled with the water running down his chin and brow. It was becoming difficult to think of anything else but pulling her body closer and moving against it. For some reason he wanted to taste her.

Orihime was biting her lip in that maddening way- and he drew closer, leaning down until they were nose to nose. "And I do not want just anyone's heart."

Her cheeks reddened, lush body stiffening against his. Those captivating eyes widened, roving over his face questioningly.

_Good_, he thought._ Look at me. _

Orihime broke the moment by giggling a touch nervously, patting his arm. "I-um...better leave you to it. You've got the hang of things now and I need to dry off if I'm going to make it on time for school."

The thin tail shifted and tightened around her leg, holding her in place. Ulquiorra stared, catching the moment she noticed.

"Let go, Ulquiorra." Her voice was soft.

Reluctantly, he obeyed, watching as she eased away and flashed a smile that said she'd already forgiven his slip.

Ulquiorra felt the cold attack his skin much more brutally than any rainstorm or blizzard he'd experienced before. That same hunger returned, causing him to place a hand over the gaping emptiness in his chest.

* * *

During the hours that she went to school, Ulquiorra couldn't help his curious mind. He opened draws, tested light switches, read the food magazines she'd stored, brushed up on sex education and puberty, learned how some electrical appliances worked, watched documentaries, found her diary and a stash of chocolate hidden under the bed- took a bite- and decided chocolate tasted too sweet.

The evenings were his preferred time of day. He wasn't sure why.

Orihime always came home in the late afternoon and would teach him new things he'd overlooked about the human world. Namely, hobbies. Video games, board games, painting, cooking, sculpting.

Sometimes he could hear her speak with school mates outside the door. When they questioned why she was suddenly being so secretive about her apartment, Orihime would deflect or say renovations were being done.

Ulquiorra's lips twitched at the corners.

One day, his curiosity prompted him to lean down and peer through the blinds of the apartment. The window looked down onto the street, sunset bathing everything in warm colours, including Orihime as she stood talking to her friends.

There was a girl with short dark hair who looked like an athletic type. The other, a young man. He stood tall and slightly lanky, with light orange hair. His expression told Ulquiorra that he was complaining about something. None the less, Orihime laughed, a blush colouring her cheeks.

Something pricked in the depths of his chest. His hollow hole thrummed, the edges biting. He grunted, touching it lightly. It had never done that before.

When Orihime returned and she called out her standard _'I'm home!'_ Ulquiorra met her eyes. Whatever she saw on his face had her instantly quieting, the happiness fleeing to be replaced with worry.

The creature blinked and wiped his expression clean, ensuring it was blank.

"Welcome back."

* * *

Ulquiorra learned what the young man was called, and it was the very name that Orihime had filled her diary with.

"...Do you desire Ichigo Kurosaki's heart?" He asked randomly during supper. Her cheeks bloomed with that same colour which churned the blood in his veins. She stuttered and waved her hands, laughing it off.

Ulquiorra glanced away, moodily continuing to eat the pickles in custard she'd prepared.

* * *

When night fell he would fly out into the world, trying to find answers.

There were sometimes different pressures in the air. Sensations fleeting in the sky like if he just let something click inside him- he'd be able to pierce the veil between the human world and the unknown beyond. Since he was neither human nor animal, he wondered if he were originally from such a place. If, perhaps...he was supposed to belong there.

Ulquiorra didn't understand why he hesitated. It would surely provide answers, possibly about death, resurrection and Orihime's brother.

When the hours crawled towards morning he'd return to her.

Orihime lay on her side in a sprawl of limbs, firey strands of hair dishevelled and splayed around her pillow in loose spirals. Her lips were slightly pursed, a small snore occasionally disturbing the quiet, the covers thrown back from her habit of kicking them off in the night. It left the contours of her figure exposed to his assessing gaze.

Ulquiorra swallowed, wondering why his mouth had filled with saliva.

Tonight she'd worn a loose tank top and shorts, which had ridden up on her thighs, the curve of her ass and exposed stomach causing a similar sensation he'd felt while in the shower. Arousal, most likely, from what that book had described.

Because of what he'd read about human behaviour, Ulquiorra was aware of how inappropriate it was to watch her sleep. Others would find his fascination frightening, creepy. He didn't care. He only desired to know what Orihime's reaction would be, as she was the only human who mattered to him.

The matress quietly groaned under his weight as the creature knelt onto the covers, crawling up the bed. He braced himself over the sleeping woman, staring with unblinking eyes. Despite what he knew about humans, reading about them, about touch, lust, sex...all of it was cold. Facts and figures.

Being so close to Orihime was warm. Images began to invade his thoughts, of his tongue gliding over her skin, nails dragging, cutting that ripe flesh open to lick and suck at her wounds and blood. Maybe bite down with the blunt, adult teeth she'd blessed him with. The fine hairs at the end of his tail glided up her thigh, tracing the shape.

And if...if she touched him in return, it would undo whatever control he had and spout lightning into his nerve endings. Just to see her looking up at him with want and open desire-

Instincts hazed, gut tightening as he heard a soft noise that caused his cock to stir.

Green eyes immediately located the tears sliding down her cheeks. Though she remained asleep beneath him, the woman trembled. Her lips pressed together, wobbling, more sounds escaping.

"S-Sora..." she sobbed, turning her face into the pillow.

Ulquiorra watched silently. He then achingly, carefully drew away from her, grasping the covers and lifting them to settle over her shoulders.

The creature then escaped into the vast reaches of the night, plunging himself through the resistance of the world and falling into an unknown one full of white sands, dead trees, and a crescent moon hanging in the sky.

* * *

"I found him," he said the next evening.

Orihime looked up from her cup of hot chocolate, eyes refocusing from her clouded thoughts. She did that sometimes, slipped away somewhere he couldn't follow. Slowly, the words registered, and life was breathed into her features once more.

"You have?" She whispered, voice thin.

He glanced away, discontentment churning. "He is not the same person you once knew."

"I don't care," she stood from her chair, gaze bright. "Oh Ulquiorra," she breathed, hurrying to him and taking his hand prisoner within her own. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Green eyes slid back to her as though they loathed to look away too long. "Why is it so important that you see him?"

Orihime bowed her head, glancing at Sora's picture. She'd explained before that the display in her home was a shrine to her brother, one that she prayed to every day.

She then raised her hand and touched the blue hairpin's securely clipped into her locks. "We had an argument the day he died...about these. I keep feeling like he got into the car accident because he was distracted. And no matter how much I pray and try to assure him not to worry about me, I feel guilty. Like I can't move on. Or maybe something won't let me. Hehe, maybe I won't let myself~" she giggled in the light, nervous way she usually did to try and dispell sombre moods.

"And you feel that if you speak with him, you will move on?" He struck into the heart of the matter, undeterred by her attitude.

"I-I don't know," she murmured. "He did so much for me. Raised me as his own since he was 18. I repaid him by being a brat on his last day alive."

Ulquiorra shifted, fingers twitching. Slowly, they curled around her own. "He is called Acidwire now."

"Acid...wire..." the name sounded cold and cruel, completely at odds with the vision of her brother.

"I'm not human, therefore I can't say what is best for you. Your desire to see him is most likely misguided and will shatter the idea that you have of your sibling. Do you still want to go?" He asked, not curbing his acerbic tongue. Ulquiorra theorised that was exactly what would happen, but she raised her head, taking him by surprise.

Her eyes were hard as flint. It was a rare thing to see Orihime glare. "If he's different, then that just means I'll have to adapt and accept it. Nothing changes the fact that it's him. I don't care if he's not human, I'll still love him."

The gears in his mind rusted, stilling. His entire being felt anchored to the blazing passion he gazed into. Ulquiorra inclined his head, grabbing her close.

Orihime squeaked, holding on around his shoulders as black fur glided under her thighs, his arms supporting her. He then walked briskly to the window and squeezed out of it with her- leaping into the air.

A cry sounded out as she gripped him hard, and Ulquiorra felt frustrated with the subsequent leap in his gut. Large wings flapped and took them higher into the sky, the wind lashing at their hair and mixing charcoal black with fiery orange locks.

* * *

As stated, Sora had changed. However, the full scope of how much he'd changed could have been better detailed.

The..._being_ towered above her in size. Orihime stared up at it with wide eyes, breath catching in her throat. A bone-white mask hid its facial features, dark hair framing the ghoulish face. It's more human-like red arms and torso disappeared into a snake body, supporting itself upright by coiling its tail behind it.

Those red eyes were the most jarring, filled with no light or hope, much like the sands and bleak landscape surrounding them. Every fibre of her being screamed at her to run, to leave the terrible, desolate place that gave an odour of death.

Setting her shoulders, Orihime stepped away from Ulquiorra's side, brows pulling together. "Brother?" She said gently.

Acidwire made a low, guttural noise. Dark locks hung forward as he bent over her, teeth glistening.

"It's me, Orihime. Do you remember?"

Her grey gaze roved over his face as his shadow swallowed her.

"_...Ori...hime?_"

She felt small before him but took another step. Her childhood ability to look past imperfections and create something friendly reared its head, and Orihime found herself smiling despite the situation, filling up with happiness.

The creature's jaws pried open- lunging down toward her.

Orihime gasped, a loud thudding sound filled her ears, sand kicking up into her face. The sound of bone cracking soon followed. Realising that she was unharmed, she shakily pried her eyes open, coughing, the sand caught in her hair and lashes. A strangled noise chocked her throat the second her mind registered the figures before her.

Ulquiorra stood between them, hands gripping Acidwire's upper and lower jaws as they bore down upon him. Her friend's foot was planted in the ground, no sign of strain on his face as he looked up into the second pair of teeth within the pitch-black mouth.

"...Trash," he muttered lowly.

"Ulquiorra!" She quickly moved out of the way, eyes wide. This wasn't going anything like she'd imagined, and if this was all in her head why was Sora-_ why_ had he tried to hurt her?

To her surprise, Ulquiorra grunted, shifting his stance and lifting the snake-like creature's jaws back over his head- before tossing its large body into the air. The creature sailed away, landing a good distance away in the white dunes. A distant thud could be heard, followed by a roar of outrage.

Black wings unfolded, tail swishing with agitation. Orihime grasped his arm suddenly. "Why...did he try to hurt us?" She murmured.

"I told you he was changed," was his dispassionate response, features cold and blank as ever. Except for those eyes. They burned with a colour more vibrant than she could recall seeing before, leaking into something new. "He's...like me now."

Orihime's heart lurched and she gripped tighter. "You're nothing alike!" Her voice became sharp even as she thought of the hollow holes in their chests. She couldn't accept the idea of her friend she'd played with in the woods turning on her in such a way. To try and devour her. "Don't say that."

_"Sister!_" White sands were spitting up into the air, something beneath them racing towards them at a breakneck speed. "_Orihime, come with me. We can be together now! Die. Stay with me!_"

She turned to Ulquiorra with wide eyes, "run away! I don't want you getting hurt!"

"The first order is quite impossible, but I'll endeavour to follow the latter," he muttered evenly, just as jaws burst forth from the ground aiming straight for Orihime.

A black wing swung out, slamming into Acidwire's neck and pushing the attack off course. He then leapt into the air after it.

* * *

Ulquiorra hit the ground standing, skidding on his heels and looking up at Sora Inoue as he followed, snarling with bloodlust. Sensing energy beneath the sand- Ulquiorra thrust his talons into the mound, gripping bone and yanking it to the surface.

Another creature like them was revealed, shrieking in horror. With a hard twist and yank- Ulquiorra broke off one of its porcelain horns and pressed it to the side of his skull.

Bone weaved and connected itself, it's twin building on the other side of his head until large horns appeared. They struck out towards the heavens- in time for Sora's body to impale itself upon them mid-leap. The horns pierced through tough scales, causing him to cry out loudly.

Ulquiorra's gaze brightened, something collecting into his index finger. Raising it, he needed only to let instinct click into place, before black energy burst forth. It consumed Sora Inoue's form, sending him sailing away and hitting the ground with a heavy slam, arms lulling at his sides.

This time he did not rise.

Orihime trembled from where she stood, slowly padding over the sands and approaching the body.

It trembled and shook a little, coughing. Her hand flew to her mouth, tears collecting in her eyes.

The mask had broken in half, revealing her brother's face beneath it.

"I-I'm sor...ry...sis..." blood curdled, escaping the corner his mouth. He coughed, some drops landing at her feet. A gaping, singed hole from Ulquiorra's power had devastated his chest, leaving his arms and neck barely connected to his torso.

Orihime knelt next to him, leaning down and hugging his lifeless jaws.

When she heard footsteps approaching behind her, the girl turned, cheeks stained with tears. Her eyes were hazy as she looked at the thick black tear marks on his own morbid face. The hollow hole on his chest now gaped wider, what looked like black oil spilt out from it to leak down his chest and abdomen. With the new addition of nightmarishly large horns, Orihime felt drenched in the shadow of a predator once more.

Instead of fearing for her soul, all that wobbled out was: "Why...did I imagine something so terrible?"

Those irises had leaked into blazing gold, scleras dark green. His tail whipped out, sliding around her waist and yanking her to stand, pulling her against him.

"Does it not occur to you, woman, that this may be real?"

Orihime shuddered, pale and cold. His taloned fingers were biting and hard on her waist. It hurt. She wasn't sure what was real or fantasy anymore. The things she'd imagined had always comforted her from the pains of reality, and yet they wounded her now?

Biting back a whimper, she steadied herself against him, palm resting against his abdomen when she suddenly noticed it. Wet, dripping noises coming from his right side. Orihime shifted and gasped, seeing nothing but a stump for a right arm. Black blood trickled from it.

"Ulquiorra! Y-you're hurt," she shakily switched gears.

His steady, penetrative gaze slid down to it. "Yes. Seems I couldn't follow your orders. It doesn't matter, I can-"

"No this is terrible!" She fussed, moving around him, hands fluttering up. "Oh no...this is all my fault," she grit her teeth, shuddering violently.

"The fault lies in my second of hesitance."

It didn't matter what he said, she wasn't listening, his calm voice a dull roar. Light sparked from her fingers, an orange glow hovering over the space his arm used to occupy.

Ulquiorra's eyes widened, attention ensnared. Gradually, bone, skin and fur collected from thin air and reconnected. They solidified into his arm, muscles rejoining. When the light died, he flexed his sharp fingers. Good as new.

"You can regenerate," he quietly mused.

"I-I guess so," she croaked, gaze dulled as she turned to look at the fallen body of her brother. "I just imagined fairies over it and the light followed. This is...so confusing."

His tail tightened around her waist. "You're like me," he said in a soft monotone.

Orihime raised her head to look at him, flesh ghostly pale. She slowly drew in close and slid her arms around his waist, hugging him.

Those deadly hands rested on her lower back, dragging up her spine and causing the girl to shiver. She was aware of him smelling her hair, but felt no disgust from it. "I need to heal him," she murmured, drawing away and gently prying his tail off around her hips.

Kneeling once more, the orange light spread over the gaping hole in her brother's chest. When it faded, his inhuman flesh shivered, a groan sounding out. Orihime gave a tremulous smile, recalling their argument as she touched her hairpins.

"I'm sorry, please be safe, brother," the words she'd wanted to say all those years ago flowed out.

Returning to Ulquiorra's side, she rubbed at her cheeks and took a steadying breath.

"Let's go home."

He considered this for a moment. "...Did you do everything you came here to?"

Hands drew into loose fists at her sides, "no," her voice wobbled. "But I guess this is what happens when you try to live life backwards. Try as I might, and no matter how happy I was..." she glanced at Sora. "I-I can't go back to those days at the summer house anymore."

The dead trees, sand dunes and crescent moon in the sky were the only witnesses to their silent departure. By the time Acidwire had drawn himself up, the mask over his face restored, Orihime and Ulquiorra were gone.

* * *

Everything lay quiet and undisturbed in the apartment as they entered. Ulquiorra had to break his horns in half, lest they scrape the ceiling. Orihime broke away from him and shakily made her way to the shower in her ensuite, disorientated. After stripping, she sat under the spray for what felt like an hour, legs going numb. Disengaged from her body, Orihime rested her cheek against the glass.

All at once however, she realised Ulquiorra wasn't with her. Panic erupted in her chest, and she stumbled out, grabbing a towel and half-heartedly drying herself. Changed clothes in her bedroom, she hurried out in her nightgown.

She stopped half-way to the couch upon bumping her nose into a pale chest. Glancing up, she found his eyes had yet to return to emerald green hues, remaining watchful, bright, burning gold.

"You're still here," rushed out, a sigh of relief soon following.

"Naturally."

Feeling a little silly now, Orihime brushed damp hair behind her ear. Seeing his steady, expectant look, a lightbulb went off in her head. "Oh...right!" She forced a smile, squeezing his arm. "What was it you wanted in return?"

Dark lashes dropped slightly, stare becoming half-lidded. It took her a moment to realise Ulquiorra was staring at her mouth. That gaze then slid down, fixing on a certain spot that his fingers soon rested against.

Orihime swallowed, feeling talons drag over the material of her night-gown, the pads of his fingers a hard pressure against her chest.

"My heart?"

He stroked the area with an almost reverent, yet firm touch. "I lack one, and yours is elevated above all other humans."

She became quiet, not screaming or running away, though he hadn't expected her to. The woman was strong. Her heartbeat drummed a little faster, but not at break-neck speed like those others he'd harvested limbs or organs from.

Emboldened by her lack of aversion to his touch, his free hand found her cheek. Claws dragged lightly over her chin, cool digits soaking up the warmth beneath them. "You won't resist?"

It pleased him immensely when she leaned into his hand. "You're so silly," came the faint mumble. "Or maybe it's my fault, for not teaching you everything you'd need to know about humans. I was a child though."

Fire spouted into his palm the moment soft lips brushed against it, heat blooming up his wrist. "There's more than one way to hold a person's heart in your hand. Not everything has to be literal."

Ulquiorra backed her up into the wall until her spine protested. His nose brushed against hers as he inhaled her exhale. "You're referring to sentimental emotion, aren't you? But there's no physical proof the metaphorical heart you speak of exists."

"The proof is in what humans feel for each other," she said softly. "What I feel for you."

Slit pupils thinned. His body became rigid.

"...Ichigo Kurosaki," he reminded her stiffly.

Something conflicted entered her gaze, honest as ever. "Ichigo is...like the summer house," she murmured. "I like him. I've always...liked him, but he doesn't see me, and I don't even know what would happen if he suddenly wanted me. The idea of him has always been so comforting. But what I imagine and want, it's just my idea of him. A prince on a white horse instead of his usual stubborn, short-tempered self. I know that. I've always...known that. But he was something nice to imagine, so that I didn't feel so alone."

Ulquiorra's wings unfolded, hands finding her thighs and hooking beneath them, lifting, forcing her legs to wrap around his waist. His breathing hitched, nose and lips finding her neck and gliding without really pressing down. He hovered on the precipice of something that threatened to ruin him.

"How do you know I'm not like the summer house?"

"Because I see you clearly now," she muttered. And it was there. It was _there_. His reflection glinted in those silver eyes. The first pair he'd ever looked into. "You...your wings, your tail, your tongue...I understand now, I got it when I saw you rip those horns off that creature and put them on yourself. You didn't get those other features from me, but you had to get them from somewhere, just like how you wanted my heart."

The image of him wavered and swam, waterlogged by tears. "I'm sorry I didn't help you live as a human. I could have given you a normal life."

"I'm not human," he uttered. "And any life with you wouldn't be normal. We have curry and wasabi together, topped with strawberries."

Orihime burst into a tearful giggle, smiling at him.

Ulquiorra leaned in, unable to hold back anymore, mouth crashing to hers. It was clumsy and hard, and to his surprise, she yielded after a brief noise. She coaxed his lips to move against hers, something wet and soft hesitantly sliding against his dark upper lip. Slowly, he opened his mouth, tongue meeting and brushing against her own.

Claws nicked at the sensitive skin of her thighs, and Orihime jolted- hips bucking. It caused a groan to hiss out, tail sliding, winding around her chest and squeezing the air from her lungs. Her breath puffed out and he gulped it down, kissing her hungrily.

"Your skin is soft…"

Ulquiorra's hair caressed her collarbone, causing Orihime to shiver in his arms. Her cheeks reddened as an appealing scent floated into the air that he hadn't smelled before. He broke away from the kiss slightly, "tell me what you're feeling."

"N-no!" She gasped, face scarlet. Ulquiorra dragged his lips down her neck, palm sliding to set on her navel and teasing lower. "The scent is coming from down here. Show me.." he breathed, nipping her ear.

When she shook her head again, teeth tugging on her plump bottom lip, he sank to his knees and dragged her down with him. Orihime squeaked as she was turned, falling backwards- landing not on the cool hardwood floor but cushioned by leather. Wings shifted beneath her back as she was laid down, the creature leaning over her and impressive wingspan rising up, containing them in their own personal cacoon that blocked out almost all light.

Clawed hands came up to settle on her hips, before one smoothed under her thigh, lifting her leg up for a better angle as he leaned down. Orihime made a noise of surprise, squeezing startled eyes shut and rolling her hips instinctively despite nothing pressing against her yet.

"You're unexpectedly wanton," his monotone sounded lighter, almost as though amused.

Her nightgown was hitched and yanked up, leaving her bare sex exposed and vulnerable.

He experimentally drew his tongue out and licked the glistening folds, soon sucking on her clit, talons biting into the nightgown. Gasping, Orihime threw her head back, arching into his mouth. Her ankles locked behind his head as frantic hands descend to black locks. Ulquiorra started and paused, unused to such a place being touched. His hair slid like soft feathers through her fingers, and ultimately he continued sucking, grunting quietly and shoving his tongue inside her. The woman in his grasp makes a curious noise, hips bucking up.

He watched her almost obsessively from his position, waiting for the moment she begged him to stop. The scent was impossibly strong, an intoxicating taste coating his tongue.

"Please, more," she whispered, startling him. For once, Ulquiorra disobeyed, leaning back and away from her sex and touch, dark satisfaction curling inside him as she made a weak noise of protest. His tail brushing up against her clit instead, sliding between her legs. Orihime didn't notice, too consumed by the sensations. The firm glide of his tail became a harder pressure against her sex, rubbing.

His hand slid up her torso to cup a full breast, barred from complete touch her clothing. "...It's firmer than I thought," he tilted his head slightly, squeezing with perhaps too much force. Her body sang beautifully with its honest reactions, her groan signalling her enjoyment as she rocked her hips against the pressure of his tail.

"I'm so close..." Orihime whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut tight. Grabbing his horns without seeming to think about it, she writhed and squirmed like a woman possessed. It made a low rumble build in the back of his throat.

Careful hands became impatient- tearing the material over her chest. A hungry mouth clamped over her breast, sucking and sinking blunt teeth in, causing her to spout gibberish, words and moans blurring into one another. Fur slid against her hips and navel, parting her legs wider as his tail rubbed quicker, gliding on the outskirts of her folds and flicking against her clit.

Writhing for a few moments longer, a loud cry filled the room, pressure snapping like a string. Her back arched, core quivering. Ulquiorra watched with undisguised fascination, sucking at the wound on her flesh.

The thin tail coiled, pulling away and coated in her wetness. Ulquiorra lifted his head and licked it clean with a swipe of his tongue, witnessing the moment her eyes cracked open and registered what she'd done. Orihime flushed deep red, glaring a little in her embarrassment. His lips twitched, rubbing his knuckles against her sex in reward.

Orihime panted, letting hazy eyes slide shut as she took in a few breaths. He then leaned over her, impossibly close. Those slit pupils pinned her in place the second she met his gaze.

"So this is lust..."

He braced his weight on one hand, the tail suddenly gripping her around the waist lifting, causing her back to arch, head dipping back.

Orihime sat up instead, fighting it- wrapping her arms about his neck. "May I touch you?" She asked quietly.

Vague surprise flit over his face, hand coming up dazedly to rest against her heart. It thrummed strong and sure against his palm. His touch then glided up, lifting claws to her cheek and touching the soft skin there.

Ulquiorra looked at her hands. "I haven't been touched before, not by anyone else except you."

He grasped her under her thighs and lifted her onto his lap as he sat on his heels, feathers and fur caressing her under her thighs.

"Me neither," she whispered like it were a closely guarded secret. She then smiled, causing him to blink. That smile brought him back down to earth. He held Orihime Inoue in his arms, hollow hole pulsing and aching with all that that meant, and for a few blind moments of pleasure, he'd forgotten how much that really meant to him.

Orihime kissed him on the lips, running a hand down his back to stroke the fur. His muscles tensed under her touch but soon relaxed. He dipped his head to her shoulder, just resting his forehead there a second, inhaling. Catharsis washed over him, arms tightening around her.

She felt so good.

Her needy hips squirmed against his, dragging one hand down his chest, the other lacing their fingers together, palms intimately meeting as she kissed down his neck. He inhaled sharply, the power seeming to make her giddy. It was a very nice sensation, having someone respond to your touch. Orihime experimentally sucked on the skin of his collarbone, squeaking when he rut his hips up. Ulquiorra then lifted his head- catching her mouth with his own. Growing more adventurous with his tongue, he moved it against hers and brushed it inside her mouth, running it along her teeth and grunting.

Something hard started to rub in between her legs, now showing from under the furs. A shaky moan escaped her.

"Feeling you respond, I think I quite enjoy it," he said quietly, wings shifting behind her, the thin leathery feel of them slid against flushed skin. Silver eyes glanced down, widening a little at the sight that greeted her. Orihime reached down, grasping his cock, skimming lithe fingers over the skin.

Ulqiorra jolted and hissed, resting his cheek against hers and breathing out.

"Does it feel nice?" Came her innocent question, cupping the tip and smoothing her fingers around the shaft. He rutted up into her hand in response, shoving her down onto her back, wings cushioning her and completely enveloping her with himself.

"More," he breathed. She was happy to oblige, stroking him harder, enjoying his enjoyment of it in that usual selfless way of hers.

Golden eyes practically glow, staring at her. Her hand pumped his base, lips finding his throat and sucking. Ulquiorra shuddered, leaning his forehead down and grunting. His eyes widen at the sensation, hips shifting forward continually. Orihime made a small noise, quickening her strokes. Her thighs rubbed together needily, getting squirmy due to his rapid panting and low noises.

Blunt teeth clench, eyes squeezing shut- before they snapped open and he shifts his hips back to drag his erection out of her grasp. A second later, and her wrists were pinned above her head via his tail, a pale chest braced tightly against hers as his cock rubbed hard against her sex.

"We're starting now," he said in a harsh whisper of sound.

Orihime's mouth opened to encourage him- but twitching hips are already ramming forward, forcing his length inside her. Due to the wetness, he managed to slide in quite far, but soon her tightness had him stopping and panting. One of his hands gripped her under her thighs, the lower length of his tail manoeuvring to spread her leg out wider with her ankle hooked on it.

Their breath mingled, everything seeming to stop.

Orihime's lips were frozen mid-gasp, eyes wide. Nothing to quell the invasive, full sensation. Sweat broke out on her forehead, which he caught on his lips, kissing it away.

The oddly sweet gesture had her smiling weakly. "I thought..." she gently panted, bucking her hips experimentally, "that we were starting."

Ulquiorra snaps his hips forward again the second those words were out, managing to thrust deeper. He liked the sounds of her moans he decided, watching as her eyes flew wide, head tossing back. Her full breasts bounced, damp, auburn hair clinging to her skin.

His tongue brushed along her bottom lip as he thrust, before pressing his mouth hard against hers. She suckled his tongue, arms straining against the tight clasp of his tail wound around her wrists. She moved her hips with him.

"Harder," she pleaded against his mouth, a mindless order. If she weren't drugged on pleasure she'd be blushing like a maiden. Ulquiorra panted, her demand only serving to heighten his lust. Grabbing her hips, he angled them up, ramming his cock inside her so that the full length sheathed inside. Her subsequent loud cries only encouraged his ferocity.

His clawed toes dig harsh rivets into the wood of the floor as he nipped her lips, moaning. Rosy lips press against his again, and Ulquiorra realises that his right hand is still being held captive, had been all that time. Her fingers squeezed over his, watery eyes remaining locked with his.

The creature had to fight the urge to utterly and completely _consume_ her.

His clawed hand cupped her breast, sharp nails digging in slightly to the soft mound as he squeezed, rubbing a thumb against her nipple and leaving red scratches on her flesh. He drank in her moaning and high, keening sounds, their kisses becoming sloppy as he thrust erratically, harsh slapping sounds filling the room. The black fur and feathers of his lower half had become soaked from their combined juices.

Her wanting tongue licked against his, a string of saliva connecting them. "Please, Ulquiorra, more," she whimpered, eyes hazy.

"Your greed will be your undoing, Woman." He let out a groan, eyes darkening. He suddenly grabbed her hair and tugged it back, slamming inside her quicker and quicker. Orihime screamed, feeling his length hit a sweet spot deep inside her.

He has no scruples about slamming harder into her, his hips hitting her own with the ferocity of his thrusts before gnashing his teeth together, making a low noise as he released, shuddering. Orihime soon followed, crying out and trembling against him, legs going slack around his waist.

"You...you came inside," she murmured dazedly.

"If you're r-referring to the orgasm and possible procreation, I think it's unlikely," he muttered, catching his breath, lips brushing her neck. "There is nothing else like me," he thought of Acidwire and those other creatures in the dunes. Maybe there were similar things, but whatever he was, Ulquiorra did not think he was meant to feel this way.

"...You're not alone though. I don't think there's anything else like m-me either. I don't know what I am."

Ulquiorra blinked and shifted back. It felt somewhat like torture to pull away from her, the loss of heat almost unbearable. He hated the sting, that he knew no cave would ever be a comfort from the rain again. His tail released her wrists, leaving purplish, tender rings."I suppose you're right," he said, back to his monotone voice. Black wings slid out from beneath her, folding behind him as the creature lifted her against him and crawled onto the bed, placing her on it. "Or perhaps you're exactly what I thought you were when I first saw you. My creator."

"But you're real."

"It doesn't change your part in my quality of existence," he said, making to go. The bed was her space.

Orihime grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him down, cradling him to her. "Don't leave," she mumbled tiredly, eyes already slipping shut. "Whatever we are, I know that you're the only thing left that makes sense to me."

Ulquiorra stiffened, head pillowed to her chest as he glanced up at her. "Never mind your species or powers, I don't understand _you_," he said slowly but settled against her, body sprawled against the soft curves and dips of the woman's body as she quietly giggled.

For once, Ulquiorra drifted into sleep first, lulled by her fingers stroking through feather-soft hair. Giving an extinguished sigh, the creature surrendered himself to her.

* * *

When the first rays of the morning sun crept through the bedroom blinds, a thin rectangle of light fell over Orihime's lids, urging them to crack open. Wincing, she raised her arm so that it blocked out the harsh blaze. Glancing down at the weight on her chest and stomach, her eyes briefly widened, before gentling.

Orihime hugged the man closer, smoothing her hand over the filled expanse of flesh where a hollow hole had once been.

_End_


End file.
